Breakdown/Recovery driver's pic dump

[Barry Cade]

Just got a new laptop, and transferring stuff. Dome just mentioned something about old stories so I'll dump some pics here. I do miss the job a lot...

[dome]

Brilliant, thanks!

Tell us about the OLLI wankers then?

Spoiler alert, I may have been one in a past life🫣

[warninglight]

I was about to say, not a Disco 3 or 4 in sight. I'm taking that as a sign to buy one.

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, dome said:

Brilliant, thanks!

Tell us about the OLLI wankers then?

Spoiler alert, I may have been one in a past life🫣

I remember 1 in particular. There have been a few.

It was 2018 if I remember, bad snow in Fife. Of course everyone in a 50 mile radius decided to go up Falkland hill to go sledging.... Its a single track road, very steep and deep drainage ditches either side. Got a call to a T6 Transporter, slid off the road and was in the ditch. I head up in the 7.5 tonner slide bed. Its carnage, no one could pass the VW, and people were trying to reverse down a single track road ,sheet ice, no turning places.. Madness. It took ages to get to the VW, and obviously I couldn't get past him. I stopped the truck and got out. The truck started sliding down the hill.....

This is the road. It was as busy as this...

I got back in and got the truck to Sit.. got out and began to survey the terrain- the VW was sitting at 45 degrees nearly, completely beached on the floorpan, wishbone under the mud. I take a minute to form a plan, as I couldn't get past to pull forward, and this would have pulled the van to more of an angle. 

A vehicle in a ditch looks really easy to get out, but actually its one of the worst jobs. If you pull straight, it'll just run along the ditch. If you pull backwards with lock on, it'll damage the front' and probably pull the bumper off. If you try and pull 90 degrees, it'll probably either break something or roll the car over. You kinda have to lift and pull at a fairly shallow angle to get them out without damage.

This van had a full camper conversion, and very expensive looking alloys. Bodykit, side skirts and big bumpers. Everything very fragile. I'm in the ditch, in FREEZING cold water, trying to figure things out. All this time people are getting impatient and starting to mill around and ask how long it'll be.

A Fucking Discovery turns up. Ratty thing Young twat driving.. He squeezes past the queue, driving up the ditch on the other side pretty much. Gets out and says, "whats the fucking problem, just pull it out. Big fucking fancy truck and you can't even get it out?" The owner of the van comes over, and DiscoBiscuit starts..  "Just tell him to fuck off, Useless C**T. I'll get that out in 2 minutes..."

He then asks the owner.." Where's the towing eye, mate? "

Never, EVER use a towing eye for recovery, especially a side pull. It could kill you. 

He jumps in the Disco, and does a 50 point turn to get the van and the LR nose to nose, as he's got a big stupid winch on the front. The chassis looks pretty ropey..  I'd figured , doing some quick AVRO mental maths, it'd be about an 8 ton pull that way.... on ice 😆. While he was pissing about I took  member to the side, and explained to him, that if he pulls it like that, it's gonna tip, and the side of the van would be lying against the banking, he'd rip the bumper off, rip the towing eye out, which will probably go through his windscreen and it would just be carnage. Also. Any damage isn't insured and his breakdown company wouldn't touch him.

He went and told the guy to "Go Away"... He proper took the huff and was ripping into me the whole time, calling me a useless bastard, and he could have had it out by now. 

I rigged up a "Z" pull , using a snatch block to double the power, and another snatch under the van, after digging down in the mud to the suspension mount. Pulled it back and up very gently and it came out perfectly without any damage, and rolled it into a field entrance. Loaded it up on the bed and had to reverse a mile and a half, back down the track. Took it back to base and jetwashed a huge pile of mud out of it. and the chap drove it home. Not a mark anywhere..

 

[Barry Cade]

28 minutes ago, warninglight said:

I was about to say, not a Disco 3 or 4 in sight. I'm taking that as a sign to buy one.

They were so common I didn't bother taking pics...

[Matty]

@Barry Cade can you remember what your recovery thread was called? I was thinking about it before but I'm shit with searching for stuff. Cheers pal 👍 

[Barry Cade]

13 minutes ago, Matty said:

@Barry Cade can you remember what your recovery thread was called? I was thinking about it before but I'm shit with searching for stuff. Cheers pal 👍 

Tales of a breakdown driver.

 

[warninglight]

9 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

They were so common I didn't bother taking pics...

Too late!

[sierraman]

That Fusion with the roof off looks a bit grim. Fatality? 

[Barry Cade]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

That Fusion with the roof off looks a bit grim. Fatality? 

Surprisingly ,no.  I would never think to take pics if there was a death involved. It's quite a strange situation to be in. Suspected neck injuries so they cut the roof off regardless of how severe the accident is. Famous story a while ago about a little fender bender. Woman got out and Police asked her to sit in the back of their car whilst they got things sorted out as it was cold and wet. They don't know if she'd been on the phone to someone and got "advice" but started complaining of severe back and neck pain.. Fire brigade cut the roof off the cop car to get her on a stretcher thing and out of the car.. 

[Barry Cade]

Here's a wee vid of rolling a wee Kia back on it's wheels. Early hours of the morning and it rolled and ended up against a tree. Owner was on her way to a charity shop and there was crap scattered all over the road! Nothing decent though..  I used to love jobs like this- having a wee think about the best way to rig and pull, and always had a wee sense of satisfaction when it did exactly what you wanted. Always make sure the handbrake is on first, that could get interesting! The Yellow Rialto was on its roof too, they're  fun to turn over as they just want to spin rather than dig in and flip. I learnd how to use a rollover stick like the Americans and it helps a lot, otherwise the car just slides toward you on the roof. I cannot stand to see cars on the back of breakdown trucks upside down.. Some companies seem quite happy with this. Also, my proper, pet hate. Any company that straps a motorbike down with a strap over the seat and handlebars..

 

 

[sierraman]

The ones where someone’s died must be pretty grim though! 

[Stinkwheel]

Great Thread and great pics.

Agree completely on the strapping down of motorcycles that way. Even worse, I've seen some previously (relatively) undamaged motorbikes being laid flat on side and just dragged up onto the recovery truck. I mean, WTF!!!

[Barry Cade]

36 minutes ago, sierraman said:

The ones where someone’s died must be pretty grim though! 

They were. Some I can still see like it was yesterday. I can't stand to see a Citroen Cactus, because reasons.  The thing that gets me is the smell. You always had to be at the top of your game though. A fatal can be a possible crime scene, so you have to preserve any evidence. Getting wrecked cars on the back of a truck without moving any wheels, or disturbing bodywork can be challenging. Watching the forensics at work is fascinating., but grim.

On a  brighter note, modern vehicles are incredibly well designed and protect occupants amazingly well.  Even little cars like Picanto's and UP's. But physics cant be messed with so weight and momentum always win.

[big_al_granvia]

suppose with non fatals on road cars most are written off so its a case of load and go and not really care, with race cars even minis most will repair assuming no cage distortion so we try to be gentle 

[comfortablynumb]

When I worked at europcar we used to get pics of all the accidents, including the fatals.

People seem to think you won't die if you don't own the car....

WRONG!

New starter was absolutely horrified about the jokes we all came out with, 'you lot are sick!'

I told him, 'give it a couple of months and you'll be as bad as the rest of us, otherwise you'll never get in a car again.

He was. At the end of the day, it's just a coping strategy.

 

[Barry Cade]

2 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

suppose with non fatals on road cars most are written off so its a case of load and go and not really care, with race cars even minis most will repair assuming no cage distortion so we try to be gentle 

My boss drummed it into us that everything has a value, even a burn out (which are horrible). Wherever possible, even if a car was trashed, we tried our best not to cause any more damage. It's a matter of pride too. Anyone can hook up a car and drag it down the road... our local breakers would just put the hook over the rear of the bonnet and drag it on, with the bonnet in a V shape. It was painful to watch, especially after extracting it carefully from a ditch..

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

When I worked at europcar we used to get pics of all the accidents, including the fatals.

People seem to think you won't die if you don't own the car....

WRONG!

New starter was absolutely horrified about the jokes we all came out with, 'you lot are sick!'

I told him, 'give it a couple of months and you'll be as bad as the rest of us, otherwise you'll never get in a car again.

He was. At the end of the day, it's just a coping strategy.

 

You should hear the  cops..  but I soon learned that is the way to deal with it, so that later when you shut your eyes, you can sleep.

There will always be a few that pop into your head though, usually at funny hours in the morning. Pictures are different. Being in the middle of it all has to be experienced to understand.. I hope all the emergency services are better cared for in this sense.

Your spidey senses soon sharpen up doing this job too..  The sound of a winch cable coming towards you out of the darkness after a huge bang fairly gets you hitting the deck quick!

[comfortablynumb]

I've had it from both sides, as a service department operative, and police vehicles consultant, and also as a part-time recovery agent, although I didn't deal with police recoveries then.

Yeah totally agree with the Spidey senses, like a skidding wheel leads to you jumping away before you check in where it's coming from! 😱

[comfortablynumb]

33 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

even a burn out (which are horrible)

I had a huge row with a director at one company I worked for, fatal accident, apparently the guy was dead before the accident, according to the post mortem.

Car was flattened by an artic, and taken to a yard, where the hot weather started it smelling bad

 

I paid the recovery guys for a tenner worth of fuel of his choice, and we burned it.

Director then came down on me because he wanted to sell the salvage, a fiesta that was about 18" tall!

Yeah, we had quite an argument about that, leading to me asking if he'd got any common decency!

[sierraman]

I’d figure if there’s been a fatality then it’s just crushed? All the blood and guts inside must make it a biological hazard. 

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

Just got a new laptop, and transferring stuff. Dome just mentioned something about old stories so I'll dump some pics here. I do miss the job a lot...

That is a calender shot.

[comfortablynumb]

Just now, sierraman said:

I’d figure if there’s been a fatality then it’s just crushed? All the blood and guts inside must make it a biological hazard. 

Should be, but the lot I worked for would sell anything, even if it was a ringing kit.

I got a call from the Met Police about a Transit we'd sold. We weren't supposed to tell anyone anything, but hey it's the police, right?

We sold it as a total burnout about 6 months earlier. It had made about £50.

Police response? " Thats novel, it's just done a bank job in Finchley!'

[Barry Cade]

6 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

That is a calender shot.

That was an interesting one. Guy jumped a wooden gate, went a few hundred yards over wasteland, through a fence, down a really steep banking then through a wall into a hospital, where it caught fire.. chap was found snoozing on his couch a while later. I reckon he missed the corner at 80+...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-36488614

[big_al_granvia]

its the rally recovery lads i respect, cars down hillsides in the forests etc, at the circuit the worst is when they are missing a corner or 2 and knockie has the hi-ab. one of the biggest pains i had was a mallock with totally siezed brakes, master cylinder failed and the fucker wouldnt move. crew had no tools and hiab had another job, radioed control asking for a shifter and cracked the bleed nipples to release pressure

[Barry Cade]

I did laff a bit about the Renault on here with a stuck brake.. we were often sent to get a car that had been seized by the police.  The "owners" used to think they were clever, and box them in, or park them between 2 other cars, or lock the brakes on, leave them in gear and on full lock. We couldn't break in, and you can imagine the backlash if you damaged their 230,000 mile Zafira with no tax and mot. Women in their pyjamas at 3pm shouting abuse at you, filming you on their phones, the local hard men telling you they know where you live...  getting buzzed by feral kids on scooters.. 

You're never gonna get that mate.. 

 

😆. Watch me!!! The cops used to call me Mr Logic.. it's like lining up a trick shot in snooker..

Fuck... I miss it..

[Barry Cade]

Question for all you folks.. I'm in a bit of a "discussion". 

If you were a recovery driver, or a tyre fitter, would you rather attend a casualty vehicle on a "normal" motorway with a hard shoulder or a "Smart" motorway, that has closed the lane with a red "X".

[comfortablynumb]

Hard shoulder without doubt, apparently it takes at least 20 minutes for the 'red X' to appear anyway, and usually there's more areas to run from a hard shoulder, without being wossisname Daley and vaulting barriers.

Many drivers still don't understand what it means.

" Oh look, an empty lane just for me!"

Having said that, I've been known to drive vehicles on flat tyres just to get to a place of safety, logic being that at motorway speeds the tyre is already screwed before you stop, and I have a strong sense of self-preservation 😁

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

I had a huge row with a director at one company I worked for, fatal accident, apparently the guy was dead before the accident, according to the post mortem.

Car was flattened by an artic, and taken to a yard, where the hot weather started it smelling bad

 

I paid the recovery guys for a tenner worth of fuel of his choice, and we burned it.

Director then came down on me because he wanted to sell the salvage, a fiesta that was about 18" tall!

Yeah, we had quite an argument about that, leading to me asking if he'd got any common decency!

This doesn't surprise me one bit.

[big_al_granvia]

38 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Question for all you folks.. I'm in a bit of a "discussion". 

If you were a recovery driver, or a tyre fitter, would you rather attend a casualty vehicle on a "normal" motorway with a hard shoulder or a "Smart" motorway, that has closed the lane with a red "X".

neither , limp it on the alloy to safety, respect to any recovery op that does, especially the hgv boys putting lifting beams on

your post about blocked in cars, 4 mcdonalds trays or if your posh a set of 4 wheel dollies, even a pair of decent trolley jack, move it sideways